1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel compositions for the prevention and treatment of white diarrhea or diarrhea in livestock, poultry, pet animals, etc.
2. Discussion of the Background
White diarrhea or diarrhea in suckling pigs during the lactation period is currently one of the most serious problems for swine breeders. About 45 to 70% of swine 2 to 9 weeks of age which are suckling during the lactation and weaning periods suffer from white diarrhea or diarrhea. The economic loss is extremely serious to swine breeders, resulting in a serious problem in the breeding industry. This tendency is also noted in advanced countries. In order to prevent and treat this disease, antibiotics such as sulfa agents or the like are generally used, but in recent years the use of antibiotics has been restricted due to the appearance of resistant bacteria and the internal persistence of the chemicals.
For the prevention and treatment of white diarrhea/diarrhea in livestock or poultry, live bacterial compositions have been developed for use as agents other than antibiotics. In live bacterial compositions, useful live bacteria are directly administered to livestock or poultry, where the bacteria are retained in the intestine of livestock or antagonize enterotoxic bacteria, e.g., Escherichia coli, to eliminate the enterotoxic bacteria, during passage of the live bacteria through the intestine. As a result, the enterobacteria microflora is improved so that white diarrhea or diarrhea of livestock is prevented and treated. In order to exhibit this effect, it is necessary that the bacteria be alive. Thus, for purposes of enhancing physicochemical stability of the live bacterial composition in feed and the living animal body, there are reported examples of using spore forming bacteria (cf. Veterinarian and Stockbreeders' News, No. 695, page 343, 1979; Journal of Japanese Veterinary Association, 30, 645 (1977)), and an example of utilizing multi-drug resistant bacteria, taking into account the use in combination with antibiotics as feed additives (Bifidobacteria Microflora, 4, 15 (1985).
However, few live bacterial agents are known to have excellent stability. In addition, the effect is very slow since the mechanism of exhibiting the effect is attributted to elimination of harmful bacteria due to antagonism against the harmful bacteria.
On the other hand, there has been proposed a composition for the prevention and treatment of white diarrhea/diarrhea in livestock or poultry containing as an effective ingredient the enzymatically digested product of cell walls of Bifidobacterium thermophilum which is considered to be an intestinal bacteria useful for livestock (cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-108717). It is also reported that among cell wall degradation products of bacteria belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium, a peptide glycan is the effective ingredient (cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-265231). The mechanism of its activity is quite dissimilar to that of conventional live bacterial agents since the activity is thought to be exhibited due to activation of the immune system of livestock thereby enhancing the ability of livestock to protect itself from infection. These reports are concerned with a method which comprises culturing useful bacteria inherently present in the intestine of livestock, withdrawing the effective component alone and again returning the effective component to the host. The Bifidobacterium used in this method is a strict anaerobe which requires anaerobic operations for incubation of bacterial cells so that the operations become complicated. In addition, expensive raw materials such as vitamins, etc. are required for its growth and cell yield is poor, resulting in high costs.
The agents for the prevention and treatment of white diarrhea/diarrhea by activation of the immune system of livestock are free of the problems of drug resistant bacteria or internal persistence of drugs, unlike antibiotics, and are more highly effective than live bacterial agents. However, such agents are less practical because of difficulty in handling bacteria and the poor yield of bacterial cells.